#2 History

#2 History 

So after our long few days I was very exhausted still the next day.  We had to be up early to go to the Resource Center for Roma Communities.  We met with Dr. Florin Moisa who is a Social Worker.  He was a part of the first generation of social workers in Romania.  The social work profession did not become more recognized till after 1989.  There were no non-profit organizations till 1989.  Dr. Moisa explained that the U.S. had a strong influence on social services in Romania in the ‘90s.  We spent about 2 hours learning about the Resource Center for Roma Communities and about the Roma people.  “Roma” is the proper name for “Gypsy.”  The term “gypsy” was given by others it does not exist in the Roma language.  Roma people are considered, dirty, thieves and they are looked down upon.  The Roma people face discrimination, prejudice and stereotypes.  One interesting thing I learned is that Roma is not an ethnic group.  What makes them different from others is that they have darker skin.  They also wear different clothes, work trades, speak Romani and live a traditional lifestyle.  There was also a genocide of the Roma people.  The Roma people often are in

contradiction with Romanian law.  Two of the complex issues are marriage at a young age and child labor.  It is in the Roma tradition that you get married by the time you are 15 years old.  Romanian law and the society seem to be against this because it is not the norm anymore.  Dr. Moisa said that the Roma people don’t call it marriage anymore at this age they describe it as the daughter is going to live with an aunt or something.  The issue with child labor is that young children are being sent to work.  In the Roma community family is very important and by having the children work they are supporting the family.  1/3 of the Roma population is children ages 0-14 years old.  What many social workers struggle with is that you don’t want to take away their traditions but they no longer fit with social norms.  The Roma community faces, poverty, high crime rate, difficult health situation, discrimination and lack of social services.  Today there is diversity among the Roma people.  There are some that are traditional and those that are formal.  Some that are formal do not even acknowledge that they are Roma.  We will hopefully visit one of the Roma villages but it is still up in the air.

After spending sometime at the Roma center we went on a tour with Professor Ardevan.  He teaches history/philosophy at Babes Bolyai University which is where we have been staying.  We learned a lot about the city of Cluj.  We went into many beautiful churches, such as St. Michael's Church and St. Peter and Paul Church I believe.  Because we were walking around the city I did not take notes.  One of the coolest things we saw was during the revolution a cannon ball hit a wall and the cannon ball is still there.

Finally, at the end of the night we went grocery shopping.  I was not too worried at first but it was a whole different story when we walked into the store.  Thankfully, there were a lot of pictures but everything was in Romanian.  I know I should have expected that but we didn’t.  The store was really crowded and everyone was pushing.  Also people were really in a rush.  My roommate Cathia and I worked as a team though.  Many of my classmates experienced a lot of confusion and anxiety.  We also had to deal with the language barrier.  It is crazy how just a simple grocery run could be so hectic and a learning experience.